Dear Dick: You asked for someone who had lived
in Hitler’s Germany to tell what it was like. Permit me, someone who lived under
the Swastika flag from 1935, when the Saar was reunited with Germany, to 1945,
to give a short answer.

To be a boy or girl at that time was
wonderful. In the Hitler Youth the differences between Christian denominations
or the different German states didn’t count. We all truly felt that we were
members of one body of people – one nation. Youth hostels were opened all over
the Reich, enabling us to hike from one beautiful town to another seeing our
fatherland. Every effort was made to strengthen our minds and bodies. Contrary
to what is said today, we were encouraged to become free in spirit, and not to
succumb to peer (or authority) pressure. In peacetime, NO military training was
allowed by the Hitler Youth leadership; scouting yes. Incidentally, to “snitch
on our parents” was frowned upon.

At the very time when America’s allies, the
Soviets, destroyed most of the Christian churches in Russia and Ukraine, about
2500 new churches were built in Germany. NOT ONE Christian church was closed. It
was the law that school and church had priority over service in the Hitler
Youth. As late as the fall of 1944, the Waffen SS barracks in Breslau supplied
two buses to take youth to either the nearest Catholic or Protestant church
every Sunday. To be a registered member of a Christian church did not prevent
advancement in the National Socialist Party.

Germany was National Socialist, but free
enterprise flourished during the entire Hitler years. No company was
nationalized. No small businessman was stopped from opening up his own store. I
myself worked during the war for a company that can only be called part of
international capitalism. If you owned shares, nobody confiscated them, like the
allies did in 1945.

The accomplishments of the ‘Nazis’ were
incredible. Starting without money and with six million unemployed (a third of
the workforce), they constructed the entire German Autobahn road network in a
short span of 6 years – almost without corruption – while seeing to it that the
new road system did not unnecessarily destroy either the German landscape, or
wildlife habitats and forests. Two years after the NS [National Socialists] were
elected to power, conditions were so improved that workers had to be hired in
nearby friendly countries to help alleviate the worker’s shortage in Germany.
Germany was booming while Britain, France and the US were in the depths of
depression.

To help the workers get cheap transportation,
the VW was designed and a factory was being built for their manufacture when the
war started. Also, for the common people, villages of small single-family homes
were erected. The monthly payments were set so low that almost anyone could
afford his own house. In Hitler’s Germany there were no homeless; no beggars.
Crime was almost nonexistent because habitual criminals were in concentration
camps. All this was reported in the newspapers and was known by everybody.

The German press during the Third Reich had
fewer taboos than the American press today. The only taboo I can think of
evolved around Hitler, and, during the war, there was a law that prohibited
“defeatism”. This was because of the negative role the German press played in
the German defeat of 1918.

It bears remembering that the “European
Economic Community” was first coined by the Third-Reich government. I remember
many articles, both pro and con about this subject. One should also not forget
that during the war at least seven million foreign nationals (nearly 10% of the
population) worked in Germany, either as voluntary workers (Dutch, Danes,
French, Poles, Ukrainians come to mind), or as forced laborers or as prisoners.
I know of no instance where foreigners were attacked or molested (much less
killed) because they were foreigners. Speaking of the press, I have an article
from 1943 in my possession that spells out how necessary friendship is between
the German and Russian peoples.

Between 1933 and 1945 there was a tremendous
emphasis on culture: theatres flourished; the German movie industry produced
about 100 feature films per year. (Of which not one was anti-American. Only 50
of them can be considered pure propaganda movies.) Some of the best classical
recordings still extant were made in Hitler’s Germany. Actors from all over
Europe, but mainly from France, Sweden and Italy were stars in German movies.

Germany always loved sports, and there was no
lack of opportunities to partake in any sport one liked. The 1936 Berlin
Olympics was merely a showcase of what transpired all over the Reich. In a book
on these Olympics issued by the Hitler Youth that is still in my possession,
Jesse Owens is shown several times and mentioned favorably. During the Schmeling
boxing fights, we kids all knew of Joe Louis, the brown bomber. Nowhere did I
ever read derogatory remarks about other races. Certainly the accomplishments of
Germany and the Germans were given prominence, similar to the ad nauseum
statements of today that the U.S. is the land of the free, etc. In my ten years
in the Hitler Youth (actually 8, since I obviously couldn’t attend while a
soldier), the Jews were never mentioned. Other sports that gripped our attention
were flying (there was Hitler-Youth flying training with their own sail planes),
car races (British and Italian drivers dominated) and riding.

Frequently I am asked about gun control during
the Hitler era. Claims are made that Hitler could take power because he disarmed
the German people. That is nonsense. In Germany gun ownership was never as
prevalent as it is in America. I would say that for hundreds of years one needed
a gun license in order to keep a weapon. On the other hand, my father owned an
old pistol clandestinely (about which we children knew), and there were gun
clubs all over the Reich. Furthermore, Germany was always a country with many
excellent gunsmiths. It is doubtful that they could stay in business if the laws
were too stringent. I would surmise that while Germany was Germany (before it
was ‘liberated’ by the allies) gun ownership probably was far more widespread
than is acknowledged today. Laws on the books were mainly to give the police a
handle to arrest criminals with guns, not the ordinary citizen. Incidentally,
just as Hitler had forbidden so-called ‘punishment exercises’ in the army (the
brutal methods still employed in the American army), so had he forbidden the use
of clubs by the police. He considered it demeaning to the German people.

Finally this: I don’t believe I’ll ever see
again a people as happy and content as were the great majority of Germans under
Hitler, especially in peacetime. Certainly some minorities suffered: former
parliamentary politicians – because they couldn’t play their political games;
the Jews – because they lost their power over Germany; the gypsies – because
during the war they were required to work; and crooked union bosses – because
they lost their parasitical positions. To this day I believe that the happiness
of the majority of a people is more important than the well-being of a few
spoiled minorities. In school there should be emphasis on promoting the best and
the intelligent, as was done in Germany during the Hitler years – a fact that
contributed after the war to the rapid German reconstruction. That Hitler was
loved by his people, there can be no question. Even a few week’s before the
war’s end and his death, he was able to drive to the front and mingle among the
combat soldiers with only minimum security. None of the soldiers had to unload
their weapons before meeting with the Führer (as was required when President
Bush met with American soldiers during the Gulf War).

Germany under Hitler was quite different from
what the media would have you believe.